Chapter Ten
Hunters
"Lieutenant?" Jay said as he and Hailey walked up to him.
Joe Jones flashed a smile and reached out to shake their hands. "Detectives," he greeted.
"No hard feelings hope?" Hailey stated.
The leader of the unit currently in charge of the bomb investigation shrugged. "It is what it is," he replied. "Although, I find it hard to believe you're going to find anything we've missed."
"Sometimes the answer is where you least expect to find it," Jay suggested kindly.
"Taking philosophy classes, Halstead?" Jones drawled.
Hailey flashed an amused smile as her husband pursed his lips. She knew Jones, he was somewhat of a bully but he meant well. The man was a bit cocky, had a little too much faith in his abilities. He also got quite a temper so for him and his team to lose a prestigious case like this must have hurt. It must have felt even worse to leave it in the hands of two detectives.
Jones blinked at Hailey. "So, how have you been, Upton? Are they treating you well up there on their high horses?"
"It's a treat to work at intelligence," she replied.
Jones chuckled. "Knowing you, I am a little surprised. I didn't think Voight would offer you a spot after you told him he was a cocky SOB straight to his face."
This time Hailey chuckled fondly. "You heard about that, huh? Why am I not surprised."
The lieutenant smirked. "Or maybe Voight offered you the position because you had the 'balls' to tell him just that."
"As much as I love a good reunion," Jay spoke up sarcastically. "Can we get back to business?"
Lieutenant Jones threw an annoyed glance at Halstead. "Yeah, of course. This is what we know," he informed them as he handed over a pad.
Upton took it and began to scroll down through the various files, skimming through maps and pictures of possible suspects.
"Have fun with that," Jones said and pointed at the digital pad. "Tell Voight to get rid of that horrible whiteboard – it belongs to another century."
"I don't know, we kind of like it. It can't be hacked," Upton replied smartly. "Anyway, we'll get back to you when we have a question."
"No problem, be my guest," he offered. "So, how's the old grumpy son of a bitch doing?" Lieutenant Jones asked with a warm undertone accompanying his sarcastic question.
"He will be back on his feet in no time," Jay said with a tight smile. "We're heading over to the hospital as soon as we've got everything from here."
Jones shook his head, thinking Voight was one of a kind. "What? He's running intelligence from the hospital now?"
"Officially, he's just a patient," Hailey answered cryptically.
They said their goodbyes and headed out the door. When they reached the car Jay turned to Hailey and said; "How long did you work for that jerk?"
She fired off an amused smile. "He's not so bad. He just likes to be provocative. You learn how to deal with him."
"That's what I appreciate with Voight. He always gives it to you straight, whether you like it or not."
"If he tells you anything at all," Hailey replied with a smirk.
Jay arched an eyebrow. "Touché."
OOOOOO
"You know, this is new," Doctor Charles said as walked into the small cubicle.
Voight was sitting up in the hospital bed while the rest of the unit sat on each side, in plastic chairs.
"All ways are good expect the bad ones, huh?" Voight reasoned.
"You wanted to know a little about how people are drawn into a cult, right?" Charles mused softly.
The team nodded.
"We had a very interesting discussion with Professor Franklin earlier about the religious aspects considering certain social gatherings and how it affects people," Kevin told him.
"I am guessing that you wonder how a perfectly normal human being can suddenly decide to join a social group with a troublesome agenda?"
"Something like that," Kim said.
Doctor Charles leaned back against the wall, his arms draped across his chest, looking thoughtful for a moment. "It's not as strange as it sounds really," he began. "You know, cult leaders usually display narcissistic tendencies or experience some kind of psychosis that drives them to preach for a certain cause. In the end it's about convincing others to follow his or her lead and find something to believe in. Or to find something that is better than they already have."
"Remember this; a person must be receptive to the message because no one joins a cult – a person is recruited by systematic influence.
"But there must be some groups that are easier to persuade than others?" Adam guessed.
"Yes, there is," the psychologist answered. "People who have a weak sense of identity and tend to experience guilt, great self-doubt and black-and-white thinking are more likely to be successfully brainwashed."
"I am curious," Jay spoke up. "A leader of such a – congregation – does he or she recruit people because they believe in the cause or do they use the cause to get followers and cultivate their own personal growth?"
"That's really an interesting perspective," Charles mused. "As with everything else, I can't give you a straight answer to that. However, destructive individuals use deception and undue influence to shape other people into followers."
"So-," Hailey reasoned as she turned to Voight. "-We already know Joseph Morgan is a charismatic leader - someone who's skilled at duping people - making them believe in the cause that he has chosen for them."
"Has he really?" Jay wondered aloud as he looked directly at Hailey with a dubious look. Feeling the need to explain himself, he glanced around to each of his team members. "Doctor Charles, you said so yourself that psychology isn't black-and-white. What if Joseph Morgan was inspired by someone else? What if he didn't start all this?"
"Did something come up during our original research through his family history?" Voight asked curiously, trying to remember what they'd found out.
"Jay is actually right," Kim said. "Morgan fits the profile of a typical follower from what Doctor Charles just explained.
"Which makes the connection between him, Emily Suissman and Dale Rogers even more interesting," Kevin reasoned.
'Suissman again,' Voight thought. He needed to be able to put her in relation to the others. He'd have to ask about that later on.
The psychologist looked amused. He could literally see the cogs turning in their heads. They brainstormed well together, came up with ideas, quickly discarded them or decided to keep working in a certain direction. Sometimes, all it took was a look from one of them and the rest seemed to understand.
Intelligence was a tight-knitted bunch of people. They had years of experience on the field and of working with each other. As with every other group there were certain tensions, issues that needed to be addressed, but when it came down to it, they had each other's backs, no matter what. It was a pleasure to see six persons who, from the beginning, seemed to have so little in common work so well together.
The doctor's lips curled carefully upwards as he thought back upon a session he'd had the day before, trying to meddle within a group of lawyers. Maybe he should suggest a field day in the service of the police? Let them come together, let them learn how to have each other's back instead of trying to backstab one another.
"Thanks Dan," Voight said. "I appreciate that you had time to spare."
"What's more important than helping the police?" he asked kindly as he left the room.
Voight nodded thoughtfully and then glanced around the small gathering of officers and detectives. "Look, I'm proud of you. I heard from Trudy that you stuck up to Commander Carreira, that you refused to stop looking into this case in favor of the bombings."
"It's our case," Ruzek reasoned. "We apprehended Morgan, we brought him to custody for the Don Levy family murder."
"We were the ones who left some lose ends behind," Atwater added. "We are the ones who's going to take down this cult once and for all."
"You said it before, sarge-," Burgess spoke up seriously, "-an attack directed upon the police is like an attack on our family. An attack on one of us makes this personal. You don't attack intelligence and get away with it."
Voight nodded proudly at that, a faint upward curl to his lips. "So, that still means we are running two different cases at the same time," he stated. "Jay, Hailey? You've been briefed by Lieutenant Jones?"
"Yeah. Just came from there," Halstead reported.
"What's your opinion? Do they have anything we can work with?" he asked.
"Lose ends," Upton volunteered. "Two dead ends and the ongoing investigation. The common denominator here would be some sort of refurbishing but it's a long shot."
"Why?" Voight demanded curiously.
Jay shook his head. "Most of them aren't recently done. Lakeshore for example, they refurbished the ward almost a year ago."
"Although," Hailey added. "We've seen excerpts of the report and the work Homicide has done trying to piece it together. They've run through hundreds of hours of surveillance shots and found nothing. No threats have been made, no suspicious activities in the corridors."
"Okay," Voight quickly made a decision. "You two keep working on that. I know Jones has probably been pestering Mike several times but it doesn't hurt to talk to the bomb squad directly, we don't know what's gotten lost in translation."
Jay nodded.
"Head over to fire investigation as well. It doesn't hurt to read their reports. Talk to Boden and Kelly, they know a lot about IDEs and set-ups of different type of explosives. I want that case cracked as soon as possible."
"Heading out now," Hailey replied as the two of them set off.
"Kevin, Kim, Adam," Voight called. "Keep working the cult. Follow up on possible relations concerning Dale Rogers and Joseph Morgan. You found some notes from the expedition down in Mexico? Keep digging into that. Also, do a mapping of Rogers' refurbishing firm. I want to know if he's been around the places which have been blown up over the last few weeks."
Atwater let out a low whistle. "Sarge, you think it's connected?"
"Maybe," he replied enigmatically. "Can one of you hand me a manifest of the Dark Demon Cult?"
"Planning on joining, boss?" Ruzek asked with a slight tease.
"The only thing I am planning is to get under their skin, to see what makes them tick," he said coldly.
OOOOOO
To be continued